PLAYER PROFILE

Joleon Lescott

Position: Defence

Height: 6'2

Weight: 14st 0lbs

Date of Birth: 1982-08-16 Birmingham, England

Joleon Lescott

Since joining Wolves at professional level Joleon Lescott has been a fans' favourite, but it could have been very different for the Birmingham born central defender.

Lescott was a product of the club's Centre of Excellence, but he had second thoughts about a career in football, deciding to give up the game for a year. However he decided to return to Molineux and signed on professional terms in January 1999.

In his first season though he had a rough time but since then he's been outstanding throughout. He won the supporters young player of the year in 2000/2001 season and retained it the following year.

His mature and composed displays at the centre of defence earned him international honours at U-18 level, and if he continues to get stronger and mature at the top level he will be a strong candidate to become a full international.

Lescott is still only 20 and has got so much time to improve and the Molineux faithful will hope that will be at Wolves. He has recently been involved with the England U-21's and also had a good stint in the U-19's.

The local lad had a fruitful partnership with Paul Butler for a couple of seasons but the pair's form dipped in the middle of the 2002/03 season and for a while Lescott struck up a great partnership with Mark Clyde, but the old pairing was back in place for the final few weeks of the season.

Unfortunately for Lescott, he picked up a serious injury before the start of the 2003/04 season in the Barclays Premiership, ruling him out for the entire campaign. By the time he returned to action, Wolves had been relegated.

However, in June 2006, he was back in the top flight again after joining Everton, where he was a key figure in 2006/07.

However, it wasn't until the 2007/08 season that Lescott truly developed into a star, as he proved one of the campaign's best defenders and even weighed in with a few goals. He continued his development in 2008/09, forming a near-impenetrable central defensive partnership with Phil Jagielka.

He scored in Everton's 1-1 FA Cup fourth round draw with rivals Liverpool, a game they eventually won in a replay. They progressed to the final of the tournament, but lost 2-1 to Chelsea after goals from Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard.